Remus's secret
by Odgrywa
Summary: Sirius, James and Peter wonder where Remus goes every month, so one evening they decide to follow him and find out… Marauders era
1. The reveal

**This story takes place in the marauders era.**

 **It's my version of how the other Marauders found out about Remus' moonlit secret :D**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

'How had everything gone so wrong so quickly?' James wondered, as Sirius, Peter and he were staring motionlessly at Remus. Loud, shrill screams emitted from him, as well as blood-chilling cracks and snaps, as his bones shifted into new positions.

Sirius, James and Peter had decided to follow Remus, when he left earlier in the evening like he always did once a month. They had followed him with James' invisibility cloak hiding them. Remus had walked right up to the Whomping Willow – much to his friends' surprise and wonder – and picked up a long stick, which he used to prod a knot on the trees roots. The tree had frozen and Remus had went into a small opening in the ground beneath the tree. Sirius, James and Peter had hurried after him before the Whomping Willow began to move again.

They followed him through an underground tunnel, which led to a house and then up some stairs and into the room, that they were now in.

Remus sat in the middle of the room and began to scream out in pain, causing the others to reveal their presence with worried exclamations.

Remus had looked up with a mortified expression, which shortly distracted him from the pain, but not for long. Remus doubled up with pain.

"What's going on!?" Sirius exclaimed panic-stricken.

Sirius took a step towards Remus, but the other boy let out a blood chilling feral growl, causing him to freeze in place.

"GO!" Remus' voice was hoarse, as he screamed out the word.

"Come on!" James exclaimed, as he tugged on Sirius and Peter's sleeves, pulling the frozen boys with him.

The three friends ran out the room, followed by the screams of the transforming boy, which were gradually turning into animalistic howls and whimpers of pain.

They ran down the stairs already panting, more out of fear and shock, than exhaustion.

They heard the clicking sound of clawed paws against the floor and a deep, panting breath, as the creature began to chase them.

"Hurry!" James exclaimed, as they had almost reached the door leading to the underground tunnel.

Behind them, the creature was sprinting down the stairs, while howling and growling at them.

Sirius was the first one to reach the door, he tore it open and held it, while Peter and then James ran past him and into the safety of the tunnel. During these short seconds, Sirius was able to get a good look at the beast.

Remus was a big, as in very big, sandy brown wolf. His face was screwed up in a terrifying, feral snarl, with Remus' – usually calm, intelligent – amber eyes, flashing with a dangerous fire. Had Sirius not just seen the brown fur emerging from Remus' skin, he would not believe it could be him.

When James had run past him, Sirius smacked the door shut. Seconds later, the beast on the other side crashed into it with deadly force, the three boys listened in petrified shock, as it slashed at the door, while howling and snarling menacingly.

"WHAT IS THAT!?" Peter exclaimed, already a good ways away from the door.

Sirius and James, who had thrown themselves to the ground, when the beast had collided with the door, looked up at Peter.

"I… I don't know, but… OH NO! WHERE'S REMUS!" James eyes widened, as he stared fearfully at the door again, where the beast was still snarling.

"You… don't think…" Peter began looking at the door again with a deadly pale face, "that he was killed by that monster!?"

"ARE YOU TWO DENSE?!" Sirius suddenly yelled, causing boys of the others to flinch, "You just saw it happen!" Sirius was looking and sounding angry, despite the fear coursing through him, "Our little, shy, book-loving Remus is a werewolf!" Sirius ended with a dramatic tone, which was emphasized by the beast attacking the door again.

"WHAT!?" James exclaimed shrilly.

"B-b-but werewolves are… evil…" Peter trailed off, as he stared at door with newfound panic.

All three of them slowly began to back away from the door, which was rattling in the doorframe.

"Yes… they are." Sirius slowly agreed.

"I say we get out of here." James whispered, as a loud thud emitted from the door, as the werewolf possibly threw itself at it.

"Agreed," Sirius answered, before they all turned around and ran down the tunnel.

It didn't take them as long as earlier to get through it, since they ran the entire way, followed by anguished howls, as the wolf's preys got away.

When they reached the exit of the tunnel, the wails of the beast had turned into barely audible echoes, like the wails of a ghost.

Sirius went out first, prodding the knot on the tree's root that made it stop moving. The three of them walked in a quick tempo all the way up to the castle, occasionally they glanced up at the full moon above them, which shone brightly. The moon was, for all of them, the final confirmation they needed to be convinced.

They went inside the castle, but as they closed the door after them, they just stood there in silence, none of them moving.

"What should we do?" James finally asked, breaking the silence.

"I don't know," Sirius admitted sadly.

"Shouldn't we go to Dumbledore?" Peter was fidgeting nervously.

James and Sirius was quite for a second, before James said, "No, not yet. Let's go to the library and investigate. If he is in fact… evil..." James choked out the word, "then we can go to Dumbledore."

"James…" Sirius sighed, sadness clear in his grey eyes, "even my family has always hated werewolves, they're even blacker than the Blacks," he joked humorlessly.

"I've always heard they're one of the worst kind of dark creatures." Peter piped in, his blue eyes filled with fear.

"We can't count on that!" James exclaimed, flaring up at the suggestion that Remus definitely was evil, "There's a chance…"

"Ok," Sirius said softly, "let's investigate; we have the entire night to figure out what to do."

Peter reluctantly agreed as well.

They covered themselves with the invisibility cloak and went to the library –which was the first time they'd done so willingly, without Remus dragging them – and went straight to the section on magical creatures.

The moonlight shining from the window gave them enough light to read the titles, as they searched through the section on werewolves, before they each chose a random book.

They took the books to a table, where they with a quick spell lighted some lanterns.

A deep silence came upon them, as each of them grew tenser and tenser, as they read their books. Hours went by, before it was interrupted, as Peter shrieked and closed his book with a smack.

Both James and Sirius immediately shushed him, while glancing nervously to the entrance.

"What is it, Pete?" Sirius asked in a whisper.

"They… they eat human flesh." Peter gulped.

James nodded gravely, "Yeah, it says here that the infected person's human mind," James began, before he looked at the book and quoted, "slowly crumples away until nothing else than a sly diabolical beastly mind, which only crave human blood and flesh, remains." The trio exchanged frowns and worried looks, before James continued reading, "Werewolves are known to infiltrate densely populated areas and wait until the full moon, before they strike." James stopped reading with an unreadable expression.

"Remus would never…" Sirius trailed off with a haunted look.

"This is Serious, guys." Peter shook his head, "we have to tell Dumbledore or McGonagall or…"

"No, Pete! We can't." James bit him off, "I refuse to believe that Remus would do that." James crossed his arms determinedly, "Right?" he added with a frown, when neither Sirius nor Peter said anything.

"Right." Sirius nodded; "I don't think that Remus is like that." he nodded towards the book in front of James.

"But why hasn't he told us?" Peter shuddered.

"I don't know," James whispered, "maybe he was afraid."

Sirius nodded in agreement, "I would have done the same thing."

"But we still don't know how human he is." Peter stated with wide eyes.

They were all quite for a while.

"I think we should continue reading and find out." Sirius suggested, the others nodded and once again, silence filled the library.

They read on for hours; occasionally discussing something one of them read, they slowly became more and more uncertain of what to think. While their friendship with Remus screamed that he was trustworthy and good, the contents of the books, the lies and the secrets insisted that Remus was an evil dark creature determined to kill them.

"Um… guys," Sirius said from the window, after several hours of reading about the dark, evil werewolves, Sirius had decided to open the window to get some fresh air, "The moon. It's almost setting."

James and Peter came up behind him to look at the descending moon.

"What are we gonna do?" Peter asked, glancing at the books on the table.

"We get some answers." Sirius stated determinedly.

"Right, we go back," James agreed, putting on the same look of determination.

"But… but…" Peter began stammering, but seemed to regret it, as he instead just nodded.

They gathered the books, put them back on the shelves and turned off the lanterns, before they left the library under the invisibility cloak.

They sneaked through the deserted corridors and out through the same door they'd used earlier. They didn't hurry down to the Whomping Willow, since the full moon was still half-visible in the horizon, but eventually they reached it and eventually the moon was gone.

James picked up the long stick they had seen Remus use earlier and tried to prod the knot on the root, after many tries he finally succeeded and they went into the underground tunnel.

It was deathly quiet, as they made their way through the tunnel, none of them dared to speak.

They reached the door sooner than anyone of them wanted to.

Sirius took out his wand, before he took a hold of the doorknob. They listened intensely for a while, but the only sound was their own breaths.

Sirius opened the door carefully, as James and Peter grabbed their wands as well.

It creaked open, as Sirius carefully stuck his head into the room. The sight that met him made him gasp.

"What is it?" James whispered from behind him, as he and Peter looked over Sirius' shoulder and gasped as well.

The floor in front of the door was clawed up, as if the beast had tried to dig its way under the door. The floor and the deep claw-marks was covered with blood, which laid in a thick layer everywhere. Sirius even spotted some big lumps of fur sticking to something, which looked disturbingly much like bloody skin. All in all, it was a bloodbath.

Sirius swallowed and forced himself to look away from the floor, as he walked forwards, followed by James on his left side and Peter a bit behind on his right side.

They went into the next room, which was also much bloodier, than before the full moon.

They walked up the creaking staircase with blood smeared on every step, it created a trail to the room in which it had happened last night.

On shaky legs, the boys approached the door, which was open.

They exchanged fearful glances, before stepping through it. Peter shrieked, James gasped and Sirius couldn't as much as blink.

The room, which had once been a bedroom, was not as covered in blood, as the one downstairs, but a big pool soaked the middle of it. In the middle of the pool laid a bloody figure.

At first glance, all of them thought he was dead! No one could still be alive after losing that much blood, but upon a closer look, the shoulders were obviously shaking and the heartbreaking sound of a weeping and whimpering Remus was heard.

"Re… Remus?"

* * *

Remus felt pain. Excruciating pain. It was always extremely painful, when he transformed and turned back human, but this time it was almost unbearable.

Apart from the fact that his bones was twisting and cracking to become human bones once again, the pain remained even after his transformation was finished, implying he had several broken bones.

His skin hurt everywhere, and he knew without looking, that he was covered in gashes, cuts and wounds from top to toe.

He was unable to move, as he laid there with his broken bones and severe wounds, he couldn't help wondering why the wolf had been so angry.

Then it hit him, he remembered his friends confused and scared expressions, as he transformed. He remembered…

Remus sat up quickly, or well, he tried to, he only succeeded in flinching violently, causing a lot of the wounds, which was slowly clotting, to reopen. He hissed in pain, as he forced himself to lie still.

He had attacked his best friends. His only friends.

'Not anymore,' he thought sadly, as he once again slowly tried to get up, but gave up.

They were definitely not his friends anymore. They hated him, he was sure of it. How could they not hate him? He was a dangerous beast, a monster.

He couldn't help but huddle into a foetal-like position, as the realizations slowly dawned on him.

They had told everyone. He would have to leave Hogwarts. It wouldn't be long before angry letters from worried parents would be arriving in Dumbledore's office. Not even he would have any choice, but to expel him.

Remus began to sob quietly. His mother would be so disappointed; he was usually very good at keeping his secret, except for a few – painful – slipups.

Remus' sobs had turned into crying by now, although he was almost too weak to cry and every sob hurt in his body.

His parents and he had always moved around a lot, never being able to settle in one place for long, before someone became suspicious of the small, pale, scarred boy.

Now they'd have to move again, maybe leave the country, if the entirety of Hogwarts knew, the secret would soon reach the ministry and he would be caught. Remus shivered at the thought of what they did to unregistered werewolves, who failed to come forwards themselves.

"Re…Remus?"

Remus froze in place. The voice belonged to James, but there was no way he was here, not after what happened last night. Was he imagining things?

He suddenly felt a piece of fabric covering his naked body; he ignored the screaming and searing pain, as he flinched away from the touch.

Remus managed to turn himself around, so that he could look at the intruders.

James, Sirius and Peter was standing there, shock and fear clear in their faces, James stood closest to him, it was apparently him, who had draped Remus in his cloak.

Remus' eyes were big with terror and pain. His movement had caused his right leg, which was definitely broken, to flame up, as well as his chest, which probably harbored a few broken ribs.

Remus grimaced, but wasn't really paying any attention to the severe pain, his focus was on the three boys in front of him.

"Ple… ease…" he began weakly with a hoarse and shaky voice. The only reason for them to be back there, must be to punish him for his lies and his revolting secret. And he couldn't take it, not right then. He had lost too much blood, had too many broken bones and was far too weak, to take a beating. Plus he didn't think he could bear to see his friends turn on him like that.

James stepped forwards and reached out his hand to touch him, but Remus ignored the pain again and cringed away.

"Please… don… don't…" Remus cried, cowering away from them.

"Remus." This time Sirius spoke, as he and Peter stepped forwards as well.

"No!" Remus wailed, he shut his eyes tight, as he began shaking, "Please… I can't… I can't ta-take it. Not now," Remus pleas was desperate and stuttering, "Don't… don't… hurt me…"

"Hurt you?" James' voice was thick with worry and confusion, but Remus was too caught up in his own terror and agonizing pain to realize that.

James reached out to hold a comforting hand on Remus' trembling shoulder, but it didn't quite have the calming effect he hoped it would. Instead, Remus went rigid and then limp.

"Oh Merlin! Remus!?" James gently shook Remus' shoulder, but he was unconscious.

"Is he alright!?" Sirius exclaimed shocked, as he hurried over to sit next to him.

"I think so, he just fainted."

The three of them exchanged confused and deeply worried looks with each other, as they looked at their heavily wounded friend.

"What should we do?" Peter finally said after a while.

"I… don't know. Do you think Madam Pomfrey knows this? These wounds will definitely need healing." Sirius said worriedly, as he pulled a bit at the cloak, to expose some of Remus' chest.

"They… they can't be healed." Peter put in nervously, "remember what the books said about wounds inflicted by a werewolf?"

"The bleeding needs to stop and the scars won't be as clear with the right treatment." Sirius argued.

"Guys, what do we do?" James cut in, but the others didn't get a chance to answer, as a door suddenly creaked downstairs.

All of them jumped, Sirius was the first one to react, he jumped up and took the invisibility cloak from the floor, where James had dropped it.

"Hurry! Someone's coming." He whispered, as he unfolded the cloak.

Sirius, James and Peter disappeared, right as someone entered the room.

It was Madam Pomfrey, she gasped, when she saw the state of the room and again, when she saw the small bloody figure on the floor, still draped with James' cloak.

Madam Pomfrey wasted no time, she levitated Remus' limp body and hurried back out the room, oblivious to the three stunned boys, she left behind.

* * *

When Remus awoke, his head was spinning and throbbing, much like the rest of his body, which was coursing with pain.

He was squinting his eyes closed, due to the light and the bright white sheets on his hospital bed.

At first he had to strain his memory in order to remember what had happened, but when he did it felt like his blood turned to ice.

They knew. They knew. They knew. Remus couldn't think of anything else.

He closed his eyes with a shaky breath.

The whole school must know. Everyone. He'd have to leave Hogwarts.

Remus sighed and tried to roll over to find a more comfortable position, but just as he did, he gasped, as pain erupted from… well, everywhere.

The wolf was incredibly angry last night, he thought bitterly, as he tensely waited for the pain to subside slightly.

The curtains surrounding his bed was pulled aside, as madam Pomfrey stepped in with a worried expression.

"Remus," She greeted with a sigh, as she closed the curtain after her, "I thought I heard you,".

Remus was about to answer, but only managed a hoarse croak.

"Here, you need some water," she said, as she conjured a glass filled with water out of thin air.

He tried to sit up, but found it impossible. Madam Pomfrey saw this and hurried forwards, to help him raise his head slightly, before she held the glass to his lips.

Remus drank thankfully, as the cold water eased his dry throat.

"Thanks," he whispered hoarsely, when the glass was empty.

"You're welcome, dear. Now how are you feeling?"

Remus was taken aback a bit. If the entire school knew about him, wouldn't madam Pomfrey tell him, as the first thing? Wasn't it important? Or was she trying to spare his feelings? Or… had he imagined it? The entire thing?

"Um…" Remus realized that he hadn't answered her question, "not good."

"Hm, well no surprise there," She said, as she shook her head sadly, "This was by far the worst moon you've had, Remus. What happened?" she asked with a concerned frown.

She didn't know that James, Sirius and Peter had seen him, Remus concluded. If she did know, she wouldn't ask what happened.

"N… nothing."

"Hm," she didn't look convinced, "You had 16 broken bone"

Remus' eyes grew wide. 16.

"Fingers, toes, legs, arms, ribs." She listed, while counting on her fingers, "Quite a bloody mess in the shack." She sighed. (Remus shuddered; his friends had seen that 'bloody mess') "I healed the bones, but, as you know, I couldn't heal your wounds. However, you've been unconscious for a while, so most of it has healed a bit on its own by now."

'Unconscious for a while' he thought nervously.

"How… long?" His voice was still raspy.

"A week." Remus gasped, "8 days to be exact. You'll have to come up with a good excuse to your friends, they've been here quite a few times, demanding to see you."

"Wh... what?" Remus gulped nervously.

"Of course I didn't let them, but they were quite persistent." Pomfrey continued, before she noticed how pale Remus had went. "Dear Merlin, are you alright? You're very pale."

"Fine,"

"Well, I should tell you, dear, that you've acquired a new scar to your face." She said sadly, "Not a very big one." She quickly added, when she saw Remus' face drop, "would you like to see?" she asked uncertainly.

Remus nodded. Madam Pomfrey conjured a small, round mirror, which floated just above Remus' head, so he didn't have to sit up.

Ignoring the pain, he reached up and gently brushed his fingers over the small cut, which went over the bridge of his nose. It wasn't much longer than an inch.

Madam Pomfrey removed the mirror again.

"Try to rest now," She said, as she turned around to leave.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Please tell me what you think. Reviews are greatly appreciated and great motivation!**

 **Next chapter will be up asap.**


	2. Confrontation

**Hi again**

 **This will be the last chapter of this story unfortunately.**

 **I'm thinking about writing another Marauders story though about the highlights of their time on Hogwarts – including another reveal scene for Remus's secret - so please tell me what you think, even just a short review makes me happy and keeps me motivated :D**

 **Hope you enjoy this last chapter! :3**

* * *

Remus spent another week in the hospital wing, and he still hadn't heard anything from Madame Pomfrey, which could imply that James, Sirius and Peter knew his secret. He became more and more uncertain as to if it had really just been his imagination.

On Friday - a week after he had woken up - he asked Madame Pomfrey to release him from the hospital wing. He had to leave Hogwarts as soon as possible. He couldn't take a chance and hope that it had been a dream. Maybe he could come back, if it turned out that it was in fact his imagination.

Madam Pomfrey wanted to keep him for a few more days, but he had insisted.

It was dinnertime, and Remus hoped that the Common room would be deserted, so he set off towards Gryffindor Tower to pack his bag.

He was limping badly, due to a deep, still not completely healed bite-mark on his left leg's thigh, which he had been hiding from madam Pomfrey.

Remus kept his head down, while he tried to hide his limp every time someone walked past him.

He was about halfway to Gryffindor Tower, when familiar voices sounded behind him. He looked over his shoulder with a nervous glance, just as Sirius, James and Peter came around the corner – only about 40 meters behind him.

They were talking and didn't see him instantly, but Sirius looked up a second later and saw him.

"Hey, Remus!" Sirius exclaimed, as their eyes met.

Remus' heart skipped a beat, before he turned back around and began running in the other direction, his wounded leg forgotten in his hurry.

He heard the others set after him, which only made him quicken his pace.

They kept calling his name, but Remus couldn't determine if they sounded angry or not, and he certainly didn't want to take a chance and find out.

Remus' leg hurt a lot, but the adrenalin was slowly taking over, so he didn't really realize the pain. It was slowing him down though, so he changed direction and ran down another corridor, in hopes of shaking them off.

They followed him down corridor after corridor, all the while rapidly closing in on him. Remus knew that he couldn't outrun them with his leg and other injuries, but he was determined to at least try. That is until he ran across a corner and reached a dead end.

Knowing Hogwarts, Remus ran up to the wall and looked behind the big tapestry that was hanging there, in hopes of finding a secret passage behind it, but no. He was trapped.

Remus spun around with big eyes locked to the corner, where the running footsteps was coming closer. He was breathing heavily out of fear and exhaustion and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest, almost painfully.

The first one to come around the corner was James, who was the most athletic of the bunch. He came to a stumbling halt, when he realized that it was a dead end.

James looked at him with a frown, but he didn't have time to say anything, because seconds later, Sirius came running into him from behind.

"Oi! Why are you standing, where I'm running?!" Sirius exclaimed annoyed, before he looked up and saw the dead end and Remus as well, "Remus!"

Peter came around the corner as well, looking like someone, who had just run a marathon.

Now all three of them looked at Remus, who shrank back against the wall.

"Please… let me go." Remus whimpered, he hated the idea of his only friends beating him up and leaving him in this deserted part of Hogwarts.

"What are you…" James began, as he took some steps towards Remus.

"Stop! Stay away from me!" Remus exclaimed, as he backed all the way into the corner. His hand trembled, as he reached into his pocket to grab a hold of his wand.

James stopped with a surprised expression.

"What's wrong? We just want to talk." Sirius said, as he and Peter stepped forwards to stand next to James as well.

"No," Remus shivered of fear, as he gripped the want tighter, "I… I know what… you'll do."

Memories from two years ago, when the magical children from his street was beating him because they found out what he was, came rushing into his mind. He had thought that they were his friends…

"Remus?" James asked worriedly, and Remus realized he had begun to cry. He quickly wiped his cheeks with his sleeve.

"Are you alright?" Sirius added, as he walked closer again.

"Stop!" Remus said with a trembling voice, while he pulled out his wand with an equally trembling hand, "Please, stay away."

"You know that we won't… hurt you… right?" Sirius said softly, not at all fazed by the fact that Remus was pointing a wand at him.

Remus didn't say anything else, as Sirius – closely followed by James and Peter – walked over to stand in front of him. Sirius reached out and lowered Remus' wand, and Remus let him, although his eyes were still wary.

"Come on, Rem! You didn't seriously think we'd hate you right?" James said lightheartedly, as he reached out and placed a hand on Remus' shoulder, causing Remus to flinch slightly.

"But… but I'm… I'm a monster…" Remus said, despair seeping into his voice. No way were they accepting him, it couldn't be true.

Sirius chuckled, "You fold your socks Remus, excuse us for not trembling at the sight of you."

"You're not a monster, Remus," Peter joined in, as he stepped forwards too.

"Yeah," James joined in as well, "You're not a monster, you just have a… a furry little problem."

Remus couldn't help but smile, although a few stray tears was still running down his cheeks, "I don't think you can call it little." He couldn't believe it, his friends accepted him! They weren't running away or beating him up. "Thanks guys," he added lowly, as he wiped away the last tears with his sleeve again.

"Let's go to the dormitory and talk." James suggested and the others nodded, including Remus.

James, Sirius and Peter turned to walk back and Remus was about to follow, but as he put his weight on his left leg, he almost collapsed. Luckily, he was able to grip the wall just in time though. Remus had almost forgotten about his leg. The running had definitely worsened the wound, and he knew without looking, that he had reopened it.

"Rem?" James turned around, having apparently realized that Remus had not followed. "Are you ok?" He frowned, as he saw Remus' pained grimace.

"Yeah, fine." Remus lied, before he tried to take a step forwards again, determined to hide his limp. Of course it didn't turn out that way. Remus' wound hurt too much, when he stepped down on the leg.

He grimaced again, when he tried to take a step.

"You don't seem fine." Peter said worriedly.

"I just…" Remus began, but James interrupted him.

"Remus! Are you bleeding?!" He exclaimed, while looking at Remus's trouser leg. A big stain of glistening red covered the left trouser leg.

"It's nothing, I'm fine." Remus brushed it off, although he knew, that it was one of the worst wounds, which he had acquired in quite a while. It was a bite mark - made by himself of course – which meant that it would take a while to heal and that it would become a scar, even Madame Pomfrey couldn't remove it completely.

"You're not fine!" Sirius said annoyed, "Come," he went over and took Remus' left arm over his shoulders, so that Remus could lean on him, "we're going to the hospital wing."

"No!" Remus refused to follow, as Sirius began to walk. Sirius stopped and looked at him with a frown, "I've been there for a week now plus the time I was unconscious. I'd really rather not go back." When the others didn't look convinced, he added: "Besides I have a some medicine I can use in my trunk, there's really no need."

"Wait. You were unconscious for a week?!" James exclaimed, while looking at him dumbfounded.

Remus hurriedly shushed him, "let's talk in the dormitory."

James agreed reluctantly.

Remus began walking slowly, he would have definitely fallen, if Sirius hadn't been holding him up, whenever he took a step with the left leg. Peter came up on his right side to support him as well.

The walk to Gryffindor Tower was slow and in Remus' case painful, the big wound felt like it was on fire and he knew that a few of the smaller wounds had reopened as well, despite the fact that Sirius and Peter was practically carrying him between them. James was walking in front of them, having said, that he would make sure they didn't suddenly run into someone, who would then see that Remus was hurt.

"Why didn't Madame Pomfrey heal your wound?" James asked, as he turned around, so that he was walking backwards.

Remus listened ahead to make sure that no one could overhear him.

"Bites from… us… can't be healed." He said quickly, not really wanting to tell his friends facts about how scary and dangerous werewolves could be.

"You knew that James, you big dunce." Sirius rolled his eyes.

"But then why were you able to run from us before? I mean you can't even walk now." James continued, ignoring Sirius.

"Oh, um… running… tore it open, I guess." Remus was looking at the ground, concentrating on walking with as little strain in his left leg as possible, so he didn't see James face take on a shocked expression.

"I'm sorry, it's our fault then," James said with downcast eyes.

Remus looked up surprised. He was still having a hard time believing that this was even happening. Up until a few moments before, he thought they were gonna beat him up and then leave him all alone – although a part of him knew that they'd never do that – and now James was apologizing for chasing him.

"It's… fine. You didn't know."

James looked like he was about to say something else, but Sirius beat him to it.

"let's wait with the questions, James." He said, fixing James a look. James scowled, but complied by turning back around, so that he was walking normally again.

They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady moments later.

"I can walk myself from here." Remus said, before he let go of Peter and Sirius' shoulders.

"Uh… no. You can't" Sirius insisted, as he grabbed Remus' shoulder.

"Listen, there are probably a lot of students in the common room. They can't know I'm hurt. It's too suspicious after a full moon." Remus explained. He sighed, when he saw how unconvinced Sirius looked.

"Please, let go, Sirius." He said, as he looked at Sirius' hand, which was still holding his shoulder.

Sirius sent him a look, before he let go, but he continued to stand next to him, probably to catch him if he fell.

"Sea slug." Remus said, directed to the Fat Lady, who had been watching them weirdly.

The portrait swung open and the four friends stepped inside the common room. There was a few older students in the common room, who was reading and talking. Remus had a hard time walking even partly normal and at the same time keeping a pained grimace off his face. Luckily, though, the others noticed and made sure they were walking between Remus and the other Gryffindor students to hide him partially from their view.

Remus was relieved, when they reached the spiral staircase to the dormitories, seeing as he could lean on the wall.

"Let's help you now," James, who was standing in front of Remus, said in a low voice.

Remus just shook his head. They could still run into someone on the stairs.

Remus took one step at a time very slowly. As he was walking up, Remus tried to determine where exactly his wounds had sprung open. Stomach, legs and a few on his arms. Now Remus really understood why Madame Pomfrey had told him not to do anything that could strain his body - like running.

They finally reached their dorm and James opened the door for him. Remus tried to avoid eye contact, as he stepped inside, steering directly for his bed and his trunk beneath it.

The others walked in after him. He sensed that they were looking at him, but he tried to ignore it, as he with difficulty reached his bed.

He squatted down in front of his bed and was about to pull out his trunk, which was under it, when someone placed a hand on his shoulder. Remus tried, but failed in hiding a flinch, before he looked up to see James, who was frowning.

"Why are you so nervous, Rem?" James asked carefully, "and… you know you can ask for some help, right?"

Remus smiled, although it didn't quite reach his eyes, "I'm sorry, I'm just… still confused."

"Why?"

"because I had expected another reaction from you guys." Remus avoided looking at them, as he sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Like lighting the torches and gathering the pitchforks?" Sirius asked sarcastically.

"Something like that." Remus mumbled.

"Gee, thanks for the trust." James said equally as sarcastic.

"Sorry, but that's the way it is." Remus said annoyed.

James, Sirius and Peter looked at him blankly for a moment.

"What did you need in the trunk?" Sirius asked after a while, as he pulled the trunk out from under the bed.

He tried to open it, but the lid wouldn't budge.

"I can take it myself." Remus brushed him off, before taking out his wand and quickly muttering the spell for unlocking the trunk – he had found the magical lock necessary to avoid that the others would open it and find the books on werewolves and his moon chart.

Remus found his bandage and a small green vial containing a mixture of powdered silver and dittany, which was the only thing that could seal a wound from a werewolf. He also found himself a new pair of pants and a shirt.

Remus picked up the things and limped to the bathroom, leaving behind his three worried friends.

Remus took off his pants and sat down on the edge of the bathtub to examine the bite-mark on his left thigh. The bandage Madame Pomfrey had dressed him with was soaked with blood. He grimaced, as he slowly undid the bandage exposing the wound.

As he had expected, he had torn it open, causing a lot of blood to flow freely out of the 'magical' wound. He gritted his teeth, as he stood up to fetch two towels, one of which he poured some water on in the sink.

He put the dry towel on the floor beneath him, so that he wouldn't bleed on the floor, then he gently cleansed the skin surrounding the wound from blood with the wet towel. Remus uncapped the green vial and spread its content on the wound, before he quickly bandaged it tightly.

Remus examined the other bandages that covered his legs, but there wasn't much blood on them, so he decided to let them be.

Remus put his new pants on, before he took off his shirt. His entire chest and stomach was covered in bandage. The white fabric had a wide red line across it and several small bloodstains from smaller cuts.

Remus removed the bandage to examine his stomach.

The long red marks across his chest and stomach came from a claw mark, which had reopened as well. It began just under his left armpit and continued all the way to his naval.

The three straight lines was bleeding slightly and the skin around them was red.

Remus took some of the powdered silver and dittany and spread it on the claw mark as well, before he with difficulty re-bandaged his chest all the way down to his naval.

When Remus was satisfied with his bandage, he took his clean shirt on.

He threw the bloodied towels in the laundry basket, where it disappeared within a few seconds to be sent to the laundry room, which was run by house elves.

Remus took the vial and the rest of the bandage and went back out of the bathroom.

Sirius, James and Peter all looked up from where they were sitting around and on Sirius' bed, when Remus opened the door.

Remus limped over to his bed, were he sat down, leaning against the wall.

"Time for questions." James said gravely, as he and the other came over to his bed as well and they all sat down on the foot of the bed.

Remus sighed, he really didn't want to talk about it, but he couldn't very well deny his friends the truths and he could no longer brush it all off with a lie.

"Sure, what do you wanna know?"

"Everything!" James said excitedly.

Remus sighed again, "Alright, I'll start at the beginning then." Remus prepared himself for a long night, as he began to talk:

"When I was little my father had very strong opinions on werewolves, which meant that he made himself some dangerous enemies. One of these enemies was Fenrir Greyback, an especially mean werewolf.

He was angry with my father and wanted to punish him. He thought that the best way to do that was to turn his son into the thing he hated the most."

Remus stopped talking for a while, as he impulsively touched his right shoulder, where the bite that turned him was located.

"How old were you?" Peter asked breathlessly.

"four," the others gasped.

"FOUR!" James exclaimed.

Remus shushed him hurriedly, while looking towards the door.

"Sorry, but… four!" James looked angry, his hands was fisted and he was scowling at the ground.

"Yes, I can't remember much of the time before… it happened."

"Do you… remember? When he bit you." Sirius asked carefully, probably not wanting to stir bad memories.

"Kinda. I remember the bite – the pain, but I had been sleeping and I fell unconscious right after, so..."

"Is that it?" James asked gesturing to the spot on Remus' shoulder, that he was still touching. Remus nodded slowly, not really sure if he wanted his friends to see his scar. "Can we see?" James asked, confirming Remus' premonition.

"I guess," Remus said, before he pulled at the hem of his shirt, revealing the scar of the bite-mark. The scarring had turned white over the years, it was quite a big bigger than the few bite-marks that Remus had given himself during the full moon.

The others looked at it in silence with inscrutable expressions.

Remus felt uncomfortable under the stares, so he quickly covered the scar again.

"Was he caught?" James asked slowly still with a blank face.

"What?" Remus asked confused.

"Greyback. Was he caught? Is he in Azkaban?"

"Oh… no. He's still on the loose." Remus sensed that James was about to come with another outburst, so he quickly continued talking, "Anyways, after I was bitten things started going downhill. The need to hide my secret drove my parents to move around a lot. They moved whenever rumours about my strange behaviour and monthly disappearances was spread.

I wasn't allowed to play with other children, because I might slip up and accidentally reveal my secret. It was pretty lonely. It was for the best, though. The one time I actually did make friends in the neighbourhood, it didn't end well…" Remus trailed off, as the bad memories flooded his mind.

"What… what happened?" Peter asked carefully.

"I, um… I…" Remus' voice broke, he cleared his throat before starting over, "They were magical. One of them had a father, who used to work with mine. He knew… the father knew about me and had told his son. My 'friend' had then told all the other kids in the neighbourhood. They ganged up on me. They… they…" Remus was shaking violently at the memory. "…hit me. Kicked me. Called me names. Spat on…" Remus trailed off, as it became too much. He pulled his knees to his chin and hid his face, as he sobbed quietly.

"oh, Rem…" James said sadly with tears of his own streaming down his face. "I'm so sorry."

Sirius went to sit next to Remus, before he pulled him to his chest in a hug.

"No wonder you hurt yourself so bad just to get away from us before." Sirius said quietly, as Remus clung to his robes.

"You know we'd NEVER do that, right?" James said softly, as he put a hand on Remus' shoulder.

Remus had stopped sobbing, he broke loose from Sirius' embrace with a sad smile.

"I do now, but it's… I…" He trailed off again.

"When did it happen?" Peter asked, a hint of anger sneaking into his usually calm voice.

"The year before I was permitted to Hogwarts."

"That's like… only two years ago!" Sirius exclaimed outraged.

"That's it! Where do they live?! We're gonna pay them a little visit." James said with a furious expression, while he clenched his hands.

Remus smiled again, "that's very nice of you, but please don't."

"But… they… they need a lesson! Disgusting *********!"

"Sirius!" James and Peter exclaimed simultaneously at Sirius' foul language. Sirius looked too angry to care about their opinion in the moment though.

Remus had recoiled from Sirius slightly, not used to hearing him this angry – even though he knew the anger wasn't directed at him.

"Really Sirius, it's not their fault. Not really. They grew up hearing terrible things about werewolves. It's only natural that they wanted to drive me away."

"I've grown up hearing terrible things about werewolves!" Sirius exclaimed – Remus tensed at that - "and I'm sure you guys have too, right?" he added directed at James and Peter, who both nodded.

"See? And we didn't… You know…"

"What Sirius is trying to say is that hearing bad things about werewolves is no excuse!" James interrupted Sirius.

"Exactly." Peter agreed.

Remus smiled gratefully at his friends.

"Continue, I want to hear the rest." James said, looking at Remus expectantly.

"Well, I spent my time on books. My mother taught me how to write and read and home-schooled me in normal muggle subjects like math and science. I showed early signs of magic, so my father gave me some books about magic and taught me the basics of it.

I shouldn't have been allowed to go to Hogwarts. When I turned eleven, I didn't think anything of it, because it didn't matter. Hogwarts was just a story that my father would sometimes tell me. Almost just a dream.

But then… One day Dumbledore came to our house… and well my parents and he sorted out the arrangements. The shrieking shack, which it of course wasn't called back then, became my… secure place to transform each full moon. Madame Pomfrey and the teachers was told of course."

"So… you're the reason it's called the shrieking shack?" James cut in.

"Yeah, the people from Hogsmeade inevitably heard me, and so they began saying it might be haunted. Dumbledore encouraged the idea, seeing as it would help cover the real circumstances." Remus halted for a second before saying: "Well, that's pretty much it, I was permitted to Hogwarts and met you guys and you know the rest."

The three others wasn't having it though. For the rest of the night they asked him tons of questions about his childhood, his condition and the times he had disappeared to transform. The questioning ended, when James almost fell off the bed, because he fell asleep, while leaning against the bedpost.

The others returned to their respective beds and collapsed on them. Remus laid back and listened to his friends quite breathing, which slowly turned into light snores. He couldn't help but smile, his friends hadn't abandoned him! They didn't even mind his condition. He had the best friends anyone could ever wish for.

Remus fell asleep with the smile still plastered on his face.

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading :D**

 **Keep on the lookout for my next Marauder story. The first chapter will most likely be uploaded within December :)**

 **And remember to review ;)**


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